Invisible
by Forever-Tangled
Summary: Rise of the Guardians/Big Hero 6 one-shot where Tadashi becomes a Guardian Angel. Things are going well until he realizes that he can't help his friends, the very ones he wanted to protect. Short one-shot. Rated K . I'm a terrible person for writing this, I know! Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG or BH6. I'm terrible at summaries.


"Tadashi Hamada, do you accept the role of Guardian Angel?"  
Tadashi couldn't quite believe it. Santa was standing in front of him, as well as the Easter bunny, the toothfairy, the sandman, and Jack Frost himself. He was still gawking at them as the tall, thickly-accented man asked this.  
"Unbelievable. Uh-oh, yes. Yes, I do." Tadashi nodded, clasping his hands together in front of him. A group of elves - which he found exceedingly annoying - started playing a very off-tune ceremony song of some sort. He looked around him, but nothing happened. "Wait, what's this job entail, again?"  
"You are given the task of protecting the individuals of a certain area. This is not simply for children - and is not truly my division, in all honesty, but we were in a pinch when you showed up unexpectedly - but for adults as well. Everyone. We have several spots open - cities, rural areas, suburbs -, what would you like to protect, Guardian Angel Tadashi?" Santa Claus asked.  
"Take Bostonelphia," Jack said, fiddling with the staff he held in his hands. "People get into trouble a lot over there."  
"Most of which are due to snow-related incidents," Toothania reminded him gently.  
"San Fransokyo." Tadashi blurted immediately. "I want San Fransokyo."

The man's eyebrows knit together. "Of all places, San Fransokyo? Why?"  
"My brother. A-and friends," he said.  
"You know that he can't see you, right, Hamada?" Jack asked. "He doesn't believe. He hasn't seen us since he was three years old."  
Tadashi nodded firmly. "He'll know I'm there. And either way, I can protect the people I love."  
"Alright," Santa rubbed his forehead and gestured to an elf, who scribbled all of this down on a document.  
And then Tadashi felt heavier. He glanced down at himself, and saw a full set of armor was fastened tightly around him. He had a metal helmet on his head, and wore a jacket of mail. It was meant to protect him at all costs from injury while on the job.  
"Fire resistant," Bunnymund brought up.  
Tadashi grimaced sheepishly.

* * *

A month after Tadashi's passing, he paid his old house a visit the minute he got time to. He'd saved a lot of peoples' lives in the space of the month, and most of the people saw him, full armor and all. Because of this, Jack's warning had worn off. People could see him, and the boy was just trying to stir up trouble, more likely than not.  
Aunt Cass was up, watching an old horror flick. He creaked up the stairs carefully - the good thing about this was that he could pass through any structure without using a door - and noticed that while he could hear each and every clunky step, Cass didn't flinch.  
"Hey, Aunt Cass," he called. It was just second nature for him to do so. He wasn't surprised that she didn't answer, though. She was so involved in her movie.  
As he climbed the steps to his and Hiro's room, he could hear quiet sobs.  
"Hiro? What's the matter, little bro?" Tadashi asked, hurrying up the steps to see what was wrong. "Hiro?"  
The light was still on in their room, and Hiro was curled up on Tadashi's bed, sobbing as he clutched Tadashi's favorite hat.  
"I can't do this anymore," he choked into a pillow, "I _can't_. What's the use?"  
"Hiro, it's okay, buddy. I'm right here!" Tadashi reached to pull his little brother into a hug, but Hiro didn't hear him. When he touched his brother, something odd happened. His entire hand, armor and all, shifted to a hue of blue, flickering and then coming back as Tadashi pulled his hand away. "Hiro...Hiro, I'm right here. You just have to believe I am!"  
Mochi padded up the stairs, meowing loudly to announce his presence. Hiro pulled himself together slowly, sniffling and allowing the fat cat to curl up with him. He stroked the cat's fur and occasionally let a whimper escape his mouth. "They-they say he's not really gone, but he is. They're stupid and just try to make me feel better, huh, Mochi? It's stupid. It's all stupid. I'm never going to leave this room if all people are going to do is bring him up and ask how I'm doing. How else can you answer that? I'm not okay. I know I'm not, but what help is it to tell someone? They'll just say 'oh, it'll get better' and that he's here. He's not, and it hurts, Mochi, it hurts!" he curled into himself, as if he'd been punched in the stomach.

Tadashi grew more and more alarmed as he watched his desolate little brother. The genius who had such a bright future. He was right, but he couldn't live life like this. He couldn't! Especially not with Tadashi being _right there, _watching it all! "Hiro! Hiro, I'm here! Can't you see me? Can't you believe for five seconds that guardian angels are real? Hiro, please!" As he pleaded, screamed even, Hiro didn't show any sign of seeing or hearing Tadashi. He eventually cried himself to sleep, as he'd done for the past month. And Tadashi remained in the bedroom, yelling and crying, too, as he figured out that he couldn't help his brother - not mentally, anyway. Guardian angels protected from physical injury. You couldn't pick someone up and hug them, have them know you're there immediately. He wanted to shake his brother's shoulders and _make _him believe, but he couldn't even do that. His arms merely turned blue and transparent, and his little brother didn't budge. Tadashi stormed from the room, from the house, away from his life. Just as he was leaving, though, he was transported immediately to a car. The funny thing about guardian angels? As soon as an alert comes in that someone needs help, you're dispatched and show up immediately, so long as you're not helping someone else.  
In the car was Go Go Tomago. She wasn't sobbing or crying loudly, really, but tears were spilling in rivers down her cheeks. Tadashi was shocked. He'd never seen Go Go express emotions.

"Stupid guy, anyway," she rubbed her eyes. "Had to go run into that building and save Callaghan...just _had _to! And now everyone's just falling to pieces. I hate this." As she spoke, Tadashi realized why he was in the car with Go Go. Her distraction was becoming apparent as her foot grew heavier and heavier on the gas pedal, and her tears were clouding her eyes. Tadashi could only stare in mute horror as she drifted into oncoming traffic by accident, then over-corrected in surprise and sent the car hurtling for a guard rail. Thinking fast, he threw himself over her, covering as much of her body as he could as the car met the rail. The rail twisted around the car, bending the car in on itself. The passenger side of the car was completely smashed in. Tadashi drifted away from Go Go as soon as he knew she was safe, and she sat there, staring straight ahead, too scared to even cry anymore. Then her hands started to shake, but Tadashi couldn't help with that. He stayed with her until police and the fire department had been called to remove her from the totaled car. And as soon as he could, he left the area.

Tadashi Hamada, they boy whose dream was to simply help people, had caused so much pain...and he couldn't do anything to fix it.


End file.
